“And you. But, uh, Buc?” She stepped closer. “The bar?”
“Oh, it’s that way.” I pointed with my glass.
“My thanks,” she told me, gathering her skirts. “And, Buc,” she added, her voice pitched low, “I lie wherever I choose. Maybe you’ll wake up tomorrow to find me joining you for breakfast. With Eld.”
“It’s the second left,” I said, keeping my expression and voice neutral.
“Nicely done,” Sin said. “Petty, but nicely done.”
“Sending her haring off in the wrong direction?” I followed after her, but took the hallway that appeared to the right and made for the doors where the music poured out from. “As the poets say, all’s fair…”
“Let’s go find Eld.”
“Aye,” I said, my stomach twisting at the thought.
I’d spent the week locked in my room reading and plotting the strategy of silks and footwork with Salina instead of out on the streets hunting leads like I should have been, preparing for tonight. If Lucrezia isn’t actually after him, does that mean the rest aren’t? My step quickened and I glided around would-be pockets of conversation. Perhaps things weren’t as bleak as they felt. I twisted my right wrist, feeling the blade strapped on the inside of my forearm, and my back straightened. It was time to find out what terrain I stood upon with Eld. Give me a blade and a chance and I’m capable of wondrous things. I had the blade—now all I needed was the chance.
31
The ballroom was a cacophonic maze of light and music and silk and splendor that stretched as far as I could see. On the far side, high in a balcony, an orchestra, their instruments mere bright glints of metal, played a stirring tune. Above me, music rang out just as loudly. Glancing up, I saw a massive gearwork contraption of brass horns, strings, drums, and turning wheels that reproduced the notes the orchestra was playing. Though where I stood the two melodies were out of synch, I expected that in the center, where the dancers were a swirling mass of color, it would sound perfect.
Around the sides of the dance floor, men and women sat on chairs, shared tables, or milled about. Servants in purple livery wove throughout, carrying trays and drinks and looking as if waiting on sweaty-arsed nobles was something to be enjoyed. Despite my cynicism, I couldn’t keep a smile from my own lips or deny the sudden flutter in my pulse. Here was magic of an entirely different sort.
“There’s magic and then there’s magic,” Sin whispered.
“Isn’t that what I just thought?” I asked. “Don’t get jealous now.”
“Jealous—”
“If it makes you feel any better”—I cut him off—“I’ve need of your magic now. Where’s Eld?”
“In disguise, presumably, like all the rest.”
“Sin…” I kept walking until my slippers moved from marble to ebony ironwood that had been polished and waxed until it shone like black diamond. The chandeliers overhead radiated bright light in white, purple, and gold. This panoply of color fell over dancers, spectators, and servants alike, making it even more difficult to pick out any individual.
“I told him we’d meet in the ballroom, that we should enter from opposite sides, the better to ferret out any nefariousness this Sicarii might have plotted.” That had been Salina’s suggestion as a way to ensure I got to show off my dancing. Twirl in a man’s hand and he has thoughts of twirling you elsewhere. “He’ll be uncomfortable as fuck, trying to be polite to everyone while making his way here and dodging whatever women throw themselves at him,” I muttered, standing on my tiptoes to search the crowd. Make a man uncomfortable and he’ll never notice the path you’re guiding him onto until it’s too late. Then all you need do is give a shove. That last had been my idea, not Salina’s.
I kept walking as I spoke, shifting my eyes rapidly across the crowd, my vision burning with Sin’s magic even as the music faded to a quiet hum in my ears. For this, I didn’t need to know I was looking at Eld. Sin would do that. I just needed to see everyone. Turning slowly in a circle, I fended off two would-be partners with a twist of my mouth and a gesture with my glass.
“Salina was right,” I murmured.
“Salina was right about what?”
“Eld?” I squeaked and spun around so quickly that I almost fell. He was there in an instant, catching my arm, and holding me steady until I got my feet back under me. “Eld?” I repeated.
“I found him,” Sin said sourly.
“Didn’t recognize me?” Eld asked with a laugh. “It’s the mask, isn’t it?”
“N-no, I just didn’t see you coming,” I breathed. “You look…”
I took him in like a gasp of air, a mask of gold with a black beak that hid his slightly crooked nose. Feathers decorated the edges and ran back over his head in waves of ebony and gold, framing the elegant black, formal jacket he wore. It, too, was trimmed with gold, but tastefully done, so that it served to accent rather than overwhelm. The jacket was tight across his shoulders, and the sharply creased pants clung to his calves. Gold-heeled shoes instead of his usual boots gave him an extra span on me.
“You look magnificent,” I said finally.
“Do I?” His mask obscured most of his features, but his eyes and lips were his own and both danced with laughter—and a touch of uncertainty.
“You do,” I assured him.
“Then thank you,” he said, giving me a mock bow. I returned it with a curtsy of my own and we both laughed. “Is that for me? I’d murder for a drink.”
“You? Murder?” I asked him, offering my glass. “I haven’t drunk from it, it’s just to keep would-be partners away.”
“Oh, so that’s how it’s done,” Eld said. His shoulders shook with laughter. “I’ve been harassed from the first moment I stepped onto the floor. But no, you keep it. Wouldn’t want you to have to dance at a ball.”
“The horror,” I said, taking a sip from the glass. The bubbles had gone still, but it tasted bright on my tongue. “I wouldn’t mind it, really. Dancing, I mean.”
“Yet you hold a glass.”
I twisted my head. “Is that an invitation, sirrah?”
“It could be, signorina. There’s only one way to find out.”
I lifted my glass to him, then drained it in a single gulp, suddenly thankful there were no bubbles left to make me choke. “Hmm, what do I do with this?”
“Now that I know the answer to,” Eld said, taking the glass. He held it out and a servant appeared as if from nowhere with a silver tray. Taking the glass carefully, the servant set it on his tray and disappeared into the crowd. “Magic.” Eld laughed, then, realizing what he had said, glanced away.
“C’mon,” I told him, reaching for his hand. “You promised me a dance.”
“Ouch!” he yelped as I ripped his arm toward mine. I loosened my grip and cursed Sin, who laughed as he let the magic leave my hand. “I didn’t actually ask you, you know,” he muttered.
“Well”—I spun around—“Eld, I’m asking you.” I stepped close, rose on my tiptoes so that my head was just to his chin. “May I have this dance?”
He froze, then nodded slowly. “I believe you may.”
I drew him farther out onto the dance floor just as the orchestra finished their tune and the dancers around us burst into applause. Finding an open space where the image of two golden unicorns touching noses—or perhaps it was meant to be horns—were inlaid into the ebony floor, I turned to face Eld. For a moment we just looked at one another and I felt a curious tickling sensation in my throat.
There was a knot in my chest that hadn’t been there a breath before and suddenly my blood felt as if it were on fire. Then music rose around us in perfect harmony and Eld took me in his arms and we began the first movement of the waltz. One of his hands was tight on my back, one of mine rested on his shoulder, our other hands were clasped, and where we touched, it felt as if lightning had struck. I couldn’t remember where my feet were meant to go, but I didn’t care, all I saw were his blue eyes like diamonds in the chandelier light.
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“Relax, you’ve got this,” Sin whispered. My entire body burned with his magic, quelling my nervousness, amplifying the spark between Eld and me, swelling the music around us, and making me wish that this would last forever.
“Where did you learn to dance so well?” Eld asked.
“Salina hired a dancing maestro,” I said. “Although it turns out that some of the sword forms you taught me can almost double as a dance in a pinch. Where did you learn?”
“Mother saw me taught and I had a fair amount of practice in the army,” he said, his jaw tightening. “Less so the past few years.”
“I never thought of the army as a finishing school,” I said lightly.
“No, me neither,” he said with a laugh. “It didn’t feel like one at the time, I’ll say that.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about you, Eld. Isn’t that strange?”
“I suppose,” he said. We twirled into the second movement of the dance. “I think when we met, we were both looking for a fresh start?”
“We were,” I agreed.
“And so we kept on as we started and never got around to discussing what came before.”
“And then this summer happened.”
“Aye.”
“What if—” I paused. Eld looked down at me expectantly, licked his lips, and looked away. “What if we didn’t have so many secrets, Eld?”
He laughed, his eyes wide, but stopped when he saw my expression. “Buc, you’ve been more secretive than ever these past few months. I’ve not changed. You could have told me whatever you’ve wanted at any time.”
“You’ve not changed?” I hissed. “Since we returned to Servenza, you’ve not changed?”
“Well, uh.” He cleared his throat. “Perhaps I have changed, but then so have you. These days I can’t tell what you’re thinking at all. Before, sometimes I had a hint, a warning.… Now, at times it feels that you don’t know what you’re going to do until you do it. Or that you can’t remember what you’ve done and—” He sighed and pulled me closer, tight against his chest.
“I miss old Eld,” I whispered.
“I do, too,” he said. He dipped me in time to the music and we danced into the third and final movement, everyone around us just scenery for our own private waltz. “You look gorgeous, Buc, you really do.” His smile lit up his face, even the parts hidden by the mask. “When I think of the girl I first met, trying to pick my pocket…”
“I’m not a girl anymore,” I said. “On the streets you’re a woman the day you first bleed. I’ll be eighteen in less than a fortnight and had I been born noble, I’d be a woman already.”
“Fuck me,” Eld muttered. “You’ve a way with words, Buc.” The music swelled to a poignant crescendo. “You’re right, you’re a woman and you have been for some time. When it comes to it, I’m barely a year older than you,” he added.
“When I said I missed old Eld, I didn’t mean to imply I wanted to be as ancient as you,” I told him, and we both laughed.
The orchestra paused; a cheer went up when they began to repeat the final movement. Eld and I slid effortlessly into it, our partnership perfect. I put my head against Eld’s chest as we danced, hearing his heart beat loudly in my ear, feeling my own pulse match his quick, unsteady rhythm. Eld was right: I had been secretive, but he’d been distant, and that’s what had landed us in this mess. I can fix it. If my lies about Sin had kept him back, then perhaps telling the truth would set things right again.
“Buc, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea—” Sin began.
“No? I do,” I told him.
I drew myself up, took in a breath the way Salina had showed me, and squeezed Eld’s hand. He glanced down, his eyes widening at his view of my breasts, and I barely kept the smile from my lips. Men.
“Eld, I’m tired of keeping secrets.”
He nodded, his gaze rising to focus intently on my face.
“I grew up with secrets, drew them in with my every breath. But you’ve earned my trust. You’ve nearly died keeping me alive more times than I can count.”
“Y-you did the same for me,” he said huskily. “Back on that beach. Buc, I’m so sorry, I’ve never been able to forgive myself for that—”
“Forgive yourself?” I squeezed his hand again. “There’s nothing to forgive. I paid the price, and gladly. I’d pay it again a hundred times over. Eld, I’d do anything for you.” I took another deep breath. “And that’s why I have to tell you everything. No more secrets.”
“No more secrets,” he repeated.
I licked my lips and began. “I changed on that beach, Eld. I saved you because … because … I’m a Sin E—”
Eld’s eyes widening was my only warning. A hand fell on my shoulder. Spinning, I drove a fist into the attacker’s stomach but found only air.
“Oh, you’ll have to be quicker than that,” the Secreto captain said with a laugh. “Try following, big boy, and we’ll be eating crow or whatever fool bird you’re supposed to be for dinner tonight,” she said. Two women wearing dresses the same shade of hunter green as the captain’s stood on either side of Eld; one held a stiletto blade pressed against his ribs.
“You’re a hard one to find, girl,” the captain added, her gaze shifting back to me, “even with that pretty dress. Fine enough to see the Empress in, that.” She leaned forward. “But it’s not the Empress that’s calling. It’s the Doga. We’ve questions and I hope to the Gods you’ve got answers.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled and I followed mechanically, glancing back over my shoulder at Eld. He shrugged helplessly before the dancers again began to swirl about, moving between us and blocking my view of him. I turned to see where I was going as the captain dragged me into the crowd. A man cursed under his breath when she elbowed him out of the way, but one of the other Secreto growled in his ear and the woman beside him choked as she swallowed her protest along with her champagne.
Eld was gone, along with all my planning. My chance. Ice water seeped through my veins, sapped my strength, and if not for the Secreto’s pull I’d have whipped back around and plunged into the crowd after him. I’d plotted with Salina, crafting machinations to understand if Eld saw me as anything more than a friend, if that was even a potential gleam in his eye, but finally I’d tossed those machinations out the window and decided to, for the first time in my life, just be plain, fucking honest, bare my soul … but I’d forgotten about all the other machinations I’d crafted that were still in play. I’d forgotten that the real reason I’d come to the Masquerade was because I’d been summoned by the Doga. I’d forgotten that lies have a way of catching us up and tripping us when we least expect it. That my machinations meant nothing until hers, and Sicarii’s, had been dealt with. As the Secreto escorted me away, I realized something else.
If I needed a Masquerade and dancing lessons and ball gowns and bubbly wine just to tell the man I loved that I had feelings for him … what did that say about me? About us? What was I so afraid of?
32
“After you,” the captain said, pulling open a door that was cut to fit the paneled wall so perfectly that without Sin, I wouldn’t have noticed it. She inclined her head fractionally, eyes never leaving me, and I gave her a mock curtsy before stepping through.
“There’s my personal inquisitor,” the Doga said, turning away from a shelf with a brown, leather tome in her hands.
She’d eschewed a gown in favor of the latest jacket and trousers, all in purple silks trimmed with layers of gilt lace and thread o’ gold. Her sea-hawk mask was molded so closely to her features that it was almost as if the woman had been transformed, like a damned Veneficus. The Crown of Servenza shone in the light of the candelabras that sat upon the round table that was also piled high enough with books to be a fire hazard. You can always tell privilege when you see it—I’d never have been so careless as to lose one book to fire, let alone an entire library.
“I thought you might appreciate meeting in a more discreet setti
ng,” she said, sitting down in a wooden-backed chair. Crossing her legs, she motioned for me to sit across from her, and the Secreto captain nudged me forward. A guard I almost hadn’t noticed moved away from the wall to ensure there was a body between me and the Doga.
“Sambuciña, you’ve been quiet since we last spoke.… I hope you have what I’m searching for.”
“I’ve discovered a plot against Your Grace’s throne,” I said, arranging my skirts mechanically. Eld was still piercingly bright in my mind, but I couldn’t let myself face the executioner without every silken thread in place. Not that the Doga was my executioner. Yet. Regardless, the principle held.
“Hard to discover something I told you of when we first met,” the Doga said with a sniff.
“Aye, but it runs deeper than you know, Your Grace.” I unhooked the clasps on either side of my mask, drew it off, and set it on the table’s edge. “There are layers upon layers here, running from beggars in the streets to gang wars to magics hitherto unknown.” I met her sharp-eyed glare and bowed my head. “With foreign powers potentially being brought to bear as well.”
“Normain?” the Doga hissed. The guards flanking her shifted, hands reaching for their swords. “Explain.”
“That remains to be discovered, Your Grace,” I said, which was true. Unless you consider the Gods to be foreign powers. Which I do. “The attempts on your life began with beggars and so it was for beggars I first went looking. That gang, the Mosquitoes, fell afoul of another gang that destroyed them and usurped their authority on the eve of the first assassination attempt against your person.”
I walked the Doga through my past few weeks, leaving Eld mostly out of it, save for a time or two when she interrupted, unable to believe that I’d been able to fend off multiple ambushes on my own—which was fair, given that she didn’t know about Sin. And Eld had helped, after all.
Eld.
The thought that it shouldn’t have been so damned hard to tell him how I felt threatened my concentration but I managed to continue, telling her of the murders that were spreading discord in the Tip and beyond and of the mysterious magic that used water to create fire. Finally, with Sin helping to direct my racing thoughts into a coherent stream, I painted the portrait of a plot not just against her life, but against Servenza. This wasn’t a coup attempt but a Godsdamned revolution. I ended with the figure shrouded in shadow and mystery: Sicarii.
The Justice in Revenge Page 24
